Kayla Parker
Kayla Amara Parker '(born September 30, 1996) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. After appearing on the children's series ''Lazytown, she became a teen idol for portraying Selene in the Underworld film series, Maya Barnes in Transformers film series, Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games film series, Beatrice "Tris" Prior in The Divergent Series, and Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On television, she has starred in True Jackson, VP. From 2009-2017, she and her family have starred in the reality television series The First Family. Parker recorded her first solo album, Baby K (2003), which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-five singles "Some call it magic" and "Come Back To me". Parker began performing with her sisters in a music group known as The School Gyrls, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Following the disbandment of School Gyrls in 2006, she released her second solo album, Voice of KP, which contained the US number-one single "Baby it's you", as well as the UK number-one singles "No Air" and "Check On It". After taking a three-year break, Parker released her third studio album, I'm Back, in 2012. The best-selling album worldwide, I'm Back has sold over 31 million copies and earned Parker numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records. I'm Back is the longest-running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and US Album Charts. She was the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, with "16 @ war", "Ring the Alarm", and "Get me bodied." Parker extended her fusion of pop, dance and R&B on her next four studio albums, Me, You, and the Music (2013), Kayla Parker (2014), Grammy Award-winning Dangerous Woman (2016), and Bad Decisions (2018). She became the first and only music act in Billboard 200 chart history to debut at number one with their first seven solo studio albums. As one of the leading streaming pioneers in the world, she has amassed over 40 billion streams on platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. She is the most followed female on the former two, while being the most listened to female on the latter two. Parker is the youngest person and first woman to win the four main Grammy categories, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year in the same year and is the most nominated woman in the Grammy Award's history, with a total of 24 wins. She is also the most awarded artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, with 26 wins, including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Parker won three Academy Awards for Best Actress, becoming the third woman of African American descent to have won the award. Having sold over 250 million records, Parker is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her success during the 2010s was recognized with the Recording Industry Association of America's Top Certified Artist of the Decade, as well as Billboard magazine's Top Radio Songs Artist and the Top Female Artist of the Decade. Alongside a successful music career, Parker is well known for her involvement in humanitarian causes, entrepreneurial ventures and the fashion industry. Parker is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly been ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine and is the most followed Instagram user in the world. VH1 ranked her at number third on their "100 Greatest Kid Stars Of All Time" list in 2012. Life and career '''1996–2002: Early life and career beginnings Kayla Amara Parker was born on September 30, 1996 in Chicago, Illinois, to Kevin and Lena Parker. She was raised with her two brothers and four sisters—Paul, Mariah, Jeff, Leilani, Kyra, and Kara—the first four from her mother's previous relationships. Her father originally was supposed to serve 25 years in prison for crack distribution, but President Barack Obama commuted the sentence. He was released at midnight on June 11–12, 2018, and saw his daughter sing for the first time. Raised a Christian, Parker was baptized at Trinity Baptist Church. She attended church regularly while growing up and wears a cross necklace. At the age of two, Parker was discovered by a talent agent while singing and dancing at church. Parker stated that when the agent approached her and her mother for modeling, she had "never really thought of being an actress" and "was lucky." After choosing to take the offer, she appeared in more than one hundred national network TV advertisements and also modeled. Parker has been taking ballroom dancing classes since the age of four and relocated to Los Angeles, California with her sister to support her acting career. After attending Campbell Hall School, Parker was homeschooled. In 2000, at the age of four, Magnús Scheving cast Parker in the lead child role of Stephanie of the Nickelodeon series Lazytown. The following year, Parker landed her first film role as well, as a kidnap victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped. Parker has received praise for her performance on Lazytown, she drew the attention of the singer Beyoncé and in 2002, she signed the Parker to Columbia Records. She later served as Beyoncé's opening act for her tours. 2003–07: Breakthough Parker selected as the lead roles in numerous Disney and Nickelodeon movies due to her singing, dancing, and acting abilities. The movies was a critical and commercial success, earning Parker the role of vampire Selene in 2003's action film Underworld. The instant success of Underworld led to Parker being labeled a "child Idol". Her debut album Baby K was released on September 5, 2003, in the US. The album debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, with 323,000 copies sold in its first week making Parker the first female artist, to have her first album debut atop of the charts and ranking her the fifth female artist overall. Baby K also debuted in the top 10 in several other countries, including Australia, the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands. By April 2004, the album had sold over 5.5. million in the United States, and later it became Parker's first platinum album. Billboard magazine ranked Parker at number four on their list of "Music's Hottest Minors 2003". On February 8, 2004, Parker was nominated for four Grammy Awards, Record of the Year, Song of the Year for "Come back to me", Album of the Year and Best New Artist. At the age of 7, she became the youngest artist to be nominated in all four General Field categories. After acting in several films including Man on Fire ''and Akeelah and the Bee'', and the release of Baby K, Parker had planned to produce her second studio album. However, this was put on hold so she could concentrate on the girl-group band with her two older sisters Kyra and Kara Parker called School Gyrls. Released on November 15, 2005, in the US and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, School Gyrls including the single "Fly Away", which became their most successful song at the time, and would remain one of their signature songs.The album established the group as a viable act in the music industry, with moderate sales and winning the group three Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year, Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, and Best R&B/Soul Single for "No place like us". Parker released her second studio album Voice of KP on August 25, 2006. It sold 541,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200, becoming Parker's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single "Baby it's you", featuring Bow Wow, reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second international single "Say Ok" was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. Voice of KP also produced three other singles; "Pyramid", "No Air", and "Stay Down". At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards (2006), Parker earned a then record-tying five awards; Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Say Ok", Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Baby it's you", and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "No Air". In 2007, Parker won the lead role of Maya Banes in the live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Parker had signed on for two more Transformers sequels. In March, Parker embarked on the Rainbow Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, consisting of 108 shows, grossing $79.5 million. 2008–2011: True Jackson, VP In 2008, she starred Parker began her starring role as the title character in Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP. Parker performed the theme song for the series and earned $20,000 per episode of True Jackson VP, which made her the fourth-highest-paid child star on television. As well as starring in True Jackson, VP, she starred various Nickelodeon films. In 2009, Parker and her family premiered in their reality show, The First Family, which chronicles the lives of the President. In July 2009, designer Jane Siskin created a Walmart fashion line inspired by True Jackson, VP, with all the designs being approved by Parker. The fashion line consists of jumpers, modern dresses, knit tops, T-shirts, leggings, and more. On November 4, 2008 President Barack Obama (the 44th President of the United States), who is also Parker's godfather, ask Kayla to live in the White House with his family. Being bored since they weren't gonna be in school for two months, Parker decided to make two studio albums. The group released their Multi-Platinum second album New Life in 2009. The album debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 400,000 copies sold. The album spawned other number-one hits, "Damaged" and lead single, "Show Stopper", the latter of which earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. After releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas in December 2008, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue their own dreams. Parker reprised in the Transformer sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was some controversy surrounding Parker's appearance while filming the sequel of Transformers when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain 10 pounds. The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009. Parker was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because she wouldn't gain weight. She appeared in numerous films including the lead role as Annabeth Jackson in Annabeth Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. The movie was filmed in 2009 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was released in February 2010. Parker has stated that she was not familiar with the book series when she received the script. In 2011 she finished her show True Jackson, VP. 2012–14: Comeback ' After performing at 2011 Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game halftime show Parker decided to make another album. Parker's third studio album, I'm back, was released on January 30, 2012. The album debuted at number one becoming the fastest selling album in chart history with over 900,000 copies sold in its first two days, while she became the first female artist to chart all entries simultaneously on Billboard Hot 100. It sold a record-breaking 3.38 million copies in its first week, the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began monitoring sales in 1991. By December 2011, ''I'm Back sold over 3.4 million copies in the UK, and became the biggest-selling album of the 21st century, overtaking Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, with Parker becoming the first artist ever to sell three million albums in the UK in one calendar year. She became the first artist ever to have an album, I'm Back, hold the number-one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles. Moreover, I'm Back had the most weeks on the Billboard 200 chart of any album by a woman. Her lead single "Me & U" went on to become the fastest and first video to hit one billion views on YouTube, which it achieved after 88 days. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards (2012), I'm Back was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Ring the Alarm" and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration"for "So What"; the Freemasons club mix of "So What" without the rap was put forward in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. I'm Back won the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The following year, I'm Back received two nominations – for Record of the Year for "We Ride" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Goin In" (with Flo Rida), also receiving a nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures, Television or Other Visual Media for her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, an adaptation of the first book in author Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. The music video for "Get Me Bodied" has been parodied and imitated around the world, spawning the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age according to the Toronto Star. At the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for nine awards, ultimately winning three including Video of the Year. On 9 December, Billboard named Parker Artist of the Year, Billboard 200 Album of the Year (I'm Back), and the Billboard Hot 100 Song of the Year ("16 @ War"), becoming the first woman ever to top all three categories. On June 28, 2013, Parker became the first solo female artist to headline the main Pyramid stage at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival in over twenty years. Her fourth studio album Me, You, and the Music was released two days later in the US. It sold 663,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Parker her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. The album was the best-selling album worldwide by a solo and female artist. The lead single "The Way", featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 30 October, with first week sales of 330,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling number one single in three years. "Come and Get it" also debuted at number one in many countries around the world, including Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany, and on 2 November, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first song in the US to sell at least one million downloads in a week, setting the record at 1.11 million. By the end of 2013, it had sold 12.3 million units globally and was the 4th year's best-selling single. She reprised her role as Selene in Underworld, and once again, Parker's performance was highly praised and reprised her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games series. On March 12, 2014, Parker unexpectedly released her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without any prior announcement or promotion. The same month, she sang at the White House concert, "Women of Soul: In Performance at the White House." The following month, she again to perform at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll event. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Parker her fifth consecutive number-one album in the US. This made her the first woman in the chart's history to have her first five studio albums debut at number one. Parker received critical acclaim and commercial success, selling one million digital copies worldwide in six days. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in the last 19 days of 2014, the album sold 2.3 million units worldwide, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 2014. The album also went on to become the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. The "2 on" song also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which marked Pierce's thirteenth chart topper, tying her with Michael Jackson for the third most number ones in the chart's 55 year history. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Parker also won home three competitive awards: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "2 on", as well as best collaboration for "Bang Bang". She joined Elvis Presley, Rihanna and The Beatles as just one of four acts to have scored a number one single each year over seven consecutive years in the chart's history. Additionally, Parker became the youngest and fastest solo artist to achieve 13 number ones, surpassing the previous record held by Mariah Carey, with only The Beatles reaching the tally more quickly. Her album was reissued with new material in three forms: as an extended play, a box set, as well as a full platinum edition. As of November 2014, Parker has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and has generated over 1 billion streams, as of March 2015. Parker starred in Maleficent (2014), a live-action re-imagining of Disney's 1959 animation Sleeping Beauty. In November 2014, Parker was featured in Major Lazer's song "All My Love" from the soundtrack album for the film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. The same month, Parker released a Christmas song titled "Santa Tell Me" from her Christmas EP, Christmas Kisses. Parker starred as Tris Prior in the film Divergent, an adaptation of Veronica Roth's best-selling young adult novel of the same name, and the first installment in The Divergent Series. Parker 's next two releases were in the final parts of The Hunger Games film series'', Mockingjay – Part 1'' (2014) and Part 2 (2015) and starred in The Longest Ride. '2015–2017: Dangerous Woman ' At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Kayla Parker was nominated for six awards, ultimately winning three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "2 on", and Best Surround Sound Album for Kayla Parker. She was nominated for Album of the Year, but the award went to Beck for his album Morning Phase. In January 2015, Parker embarked on The Honeymoon Tour of North America and Europe, with several later stops in Asia and South America. Following the tour's early success, more dates were added, and the tour concluded in December 2015 becoming the longest tour in the history. It became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time.The tour became the second highest grossing tour of all time and went on to win Tour of the Year at the 43th American Music Awards. Parker joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe playing the character of Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the 2015 sequel to The Avengers. She first appeared as the character in a mid-credits scene of the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, alongside her Godzilla co-star Taylor-Johnson, who portrayed her brother Quicksilver. Due to her older cousin Cam Newton playing in his first superbowl, Parker performed at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, held at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, winning an Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Light Design. The performance stands as the highest most tweeted about moment in history at 330,000 tweets per minute.Parker reprised her role as Tris in The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the second installment in The Divergent Series. She reprised her role again in the penultimate film of the franchise, Allegiant, which was released on March 18, 2016. On May 5, 2016, Parker released a teaser clip for a project called Dangerous Woman. The single of the same name debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first artist to have the lead single from each of her albums debut in the top one. Danergous Woman debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, making Parker the first act in Billboard history to have her first six studio albums debut atop the chart, breaking a record she previously tied with DMX in 2013. The same month, Parker appeared as host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live, where she performed "Dangerous Woman" and debuted the promotional single "Crown", which charted at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Parker garnered positive reviews for her appearance on the show, including praise for her impressions of various singers some of which she had done on The Tonight Show. Parker won an online voting poll on Entertainment Weekly as the "best host of the season". Several music publications included the album among the best of 2016, including Rolling Stone, which listed Dangerous Woman at number one. The album's visuals were nominated in 11 categories at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the most ever received by Parker in a single year, and went on to win 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Into You" which broke records for most-watched music video on YouTube within 24 hours of release and fastest Vevo video to reach 100 million views on YouTube. The eight wins made Parker the most awarded artist in the history of the VMAs (24), surpassing Madonna (20). Dangerous Woman became her most critically acclaimed work to date, receiving universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics.Additionally, Dangerous Woman was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history. In June 2019, Dangerous Woman was certified 3× Platinum, having sold up to 3 million album-equivalent units in the United States alone. In late 2016, Parker returned as Selene in the fifth and final installment of the Underworld franchise, Underworld: Blood Wars. She began her Dangerous Woman Tour in February 2017 in North America and then Europe. The tour resumed in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. In December 2017, Billboard magazine named her "Female Artist of the Year". She received positive reviews for again playing Scarlet Witch in Captain America: Civil War. She earned her second nomination for Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie and her fourth for Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. '2018–present: Bad Decisions ' On January 25, 2018, Parker the single released "Bad Decisions" and announced her fifth studio album of the same name. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and her second single from Bad Decisions, "7 Rings", was released on January 30, 2018, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of February 2, becoming her second single in a row (and overall) to top the charts. Parker became the first solo artist to occupy the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 with "7 Rings" at number one, her third single "Level Up" debuting at number two, and her lead single "Bad Decisions" rose to number three, and the overall second artist to do so since the Beatles did in 1964 when they occupied the top five spots. Parker featured with Kendrick Lamar on the track "All the Stars", which was released as the lead single to the soundtrack album of the film Black Panther and has reached number one in several countries including the United States. The song earned Parker an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media. She reprised her MCU role as Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Infinity War and starred in the action film Superfly. On April 14, 2018, Parker played the first of two weekends as the headlining act of the Coachella Music Festival. Her April 14 performance, attended by 125,000 festival-goers, was immediately praised, with multiple media outlets describing it as historic. The performance became the most-tweeted about performance of weekend one, as well as the most-watched live Coachella performance and the most-watched live performance on YouTube of all time. The show paid tribute to Black Culture, included over 100 dancers, and a live band. The following month, the BBC aired a one-hour special, Kayla Parker at the BBC, including interviews and performances. On March 1, 2019, Parker announced The BD Tour, which highlighted stops in both North America, and Europe. It ended on December 22, with Parker bringing out her best friend Trevor Jackson, Kendrick Lamar, and Zendaya for the last show. The tour went on to win Tour of the Year at the 47th American Music Awards. She once again reprised her role as Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Endgame, which is the highest-grossing film of all time and reprise her role in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. By the end of the year, Parker placed at number third on Billboard's list of greatest artists of all time—the youngest artist in history to be that high—and was named Woman of the Decade by the magazine and Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards. Artisty '''Musical style and voice Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of young female artists.Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Parker's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto.[ Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars." Parker has a four octave soprano vocal range, and the whistle register. Parker's music is generally R&B, pop and hip hop but she also incorporates soul and funk into her songs. I'm Back demonstrated Parker's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Parker recorded several Spanish songs for Nadia (re-recordings of songs from Voice of KP for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of her second. To record these, Parker was coached phonetically by her sister Mariah. Influences Parker names Beyoncé as her major musical influence. Aged five, Parker attended her first ever concert where Beyoncé performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she signed with Beyoncé and Jay-Z, she praises them for being the best role models ever and showing her how true professionals act, Parker said, "if it wasn't for Queen Bee and Jay, I would never ever have been who I am today." She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer". Parker was heavily influenced by Aaliyah, who she said "Aaliyah is someone that I admire, because she made her strength feminine and sexy". and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." She credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Prince. 'Stage performances' Parker has received praise for her stage presence and voice during live performances. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post placed her at number one on her list of the Five Best Singer/Dancers. According to Barbara Ellen of The Guardian Parker is the most in-charge female artist she's seen onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good." The ex-President of Def Jam L.A. Reid has described Parker as the greatest entertainer alive. Jim Farber of the Daily News and Stephanie Classen of The StarPhoenix both praised her strong voice and her stage presence. Described as being "sexy, seductive and provocative" when performing on stage, Parker has said that she originally created the alter ego "K.P." to keep that stage persona separate from who she really is. She described her as being "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy and too sexy", stating, "I'm not like her in real life at all. Parker remains the highest-grossing solo touring artist of all time, with over US$1.4 billion earned from her concert tours throughout her career. As of 2016, Billboard Boxscore ranked Parker as the third highest-grossing touring act of all time, with over $1.31 billion in concert gross since 2003, behind only The Rolling Stones ($1.84 billion) and U2 ($1.67 billion). Parker also remains the only woman in history with two solo concerts attended by 100,000 people; her Butterfly Tour's concert in Parc de Sceaux, Paris, drew over 130,000 audience, while her Dangerous Woman Tour's concert in Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, drew over 120,000 audience. Public image In the early years of her career, Parker had a generally wholesome image as a teen idol. Her was described as "age appropriate", compared with other teen stars who grew up in the public eye. In the following years, Parker's image shifted to wide-ranging sex appeal, with music journalist Touré writing that since the release of I'm Back, she has "become a crossover sex symbol" dramatically, differing from her previous teen idol status. In 2014, New York magazine described Parker's transitioninge look as that of "a cookie-cutter teen queen", noting she has the ability "to shift looks dramatically and with such ease". That year, she began to wear short skirts and crop tops with knee-high boots in performances and on red carpets. Offstage Parker says that while she likes to dress like a princess, her onstage dress "is absolutely for the stage. Nico Amarca of Highsnobiety magazine wrote "over the course of her now 10-year career, Parker has undergone one of the most significant aesthetic metamorphoses the world has ever seen". Her image and fashion has changed several times with different hairstyles since the release of her third album. She commented that as a child she "used to watch her mother get dressed" and that her love and admiration for fashion started with her mom.[ When putting together her own wardrobe she stated, "It's become more about taking a risk ... I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off." Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian wrote that "Kayla's wardrobe is the most talked-about, influential and dissected in pop right now" and that whatever she wears "is immediately reproduced on the high street, because it sells". Country singer Madonna admires Kayla's fashion and style stating, "I don't necessarily get inspired by the jean jacket with dress thing, but I love that you never know what she's going to wear. It always keeps you guessing, which makes her sassy and interesting." In an interview with Alexa Chung during Vogue Festival 2015, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing praised Parker by stylistically comparing her to some of the biggest fashion icons in music history, such as Madonna, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Prince. Commenting on the cultural expectation for pop stars to be role models, she said "a role model became more of my job than I wanted it to be. But no, I just want to perform for right now. That's it". The Kaypees is the name given to Parker's fan base. Fans were previously titled "The Kaytourage", (a portmanteau of Kayla and entourage). The name Kay pees derives from the flowers Kaypees, purposely misspelled to resemble her intials, and was penned by fans after petitions on the online social networking service Twitter and online news reports during competitions. Parker has been very vocal for the Black Lives Matter movement. Her song "Rise up", which she sang at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show, gained criticism from some politicians and police. Some police tried to get The Dangerous Woman Tour boycotted by other members. Parker has said that she is against police brutality but is not anti-police. Achievements See also: List of awards and nominations received by Kayla Parker and List of awards and nominations received by School Gyrls. Parker has won 23 Grammy Awards, both as a solo artist and member of School Gyrls, making her the second most honored female artist by the Grammys, behind Alison Krauss and the most nominated woman in Grammy Award history with a total of 62 nominations. "16 @ War" won Song of the Year in 2012 while "Me & U","The Way" and "Into You" have each won Best R&B Song. I'm Back, Me, You, and Music, Kayla Parker, have all won Best Contemporary R&B Album, while Dangerous Woman has won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Parker set the record for the most Grammy awards won by a female artist in one night in 2012 when she won six awards, breaking the tie she previously held with Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, and Amy Winehouse, with Adele equaling this in 2012. Parker has also won 24 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the most-awarded artist in Video Music Award history. She won two awards each with School Gyrls making her lifetime total of 28 VMAs. "Get me Bodied" and "Player" won Video of the Year in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Parker tied the record set by Lady Gaga in 2010 for the most VMAs won in one night for a female artist with eight in 2016. She is also the most awarded and nominated artist in Teen Choice Awards, winning 29 awards from a total of 60 nominations. and most awarded person in BET Award history with over fifteen awards as a solo artist. She became the first black actor to win Academy Award for Best Actress three times. On July 1, 2015 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Parker had surpassed more than 100 million Gold and Platinum song certifications. In doing so, Parker has the most digital single awards and is the first and only artist to surpass RIAA's 100 million cumulative singles award threshold.297 In the United Kingdom, she has sold over 7 million albums, making her the third best selling female artist this century According to Billboard, her total album sales stand at 54 million copies sold worldwide. Parker has accumulated 14 No. 1 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for the third most No. 1 songs in the chart's history. She has been named the top Mainstream Top 40 chart artist of the past twenty years by Billboard; she ranks first with most entries (36), most top tens (23) and most No. 1 songs (10). As of March 2014, has sold over 18 million singles and 6 million albums in the United Kingdom. She is the tenth best-selling and the second best-selling female singles artist in the country, only behind Madonna and is second only to The Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the UK of all time. Her collaborations with Chris Brown, are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide. Parker has seven No. 1 singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and Airplay chart, as well as sixteen No. 1 singles on the Rhythmic chart. She has also earned over 30 top-ten songs in the UK and Australia, making her the only artist in the 21st century to achieve this feat so far. Parker has a large following on social media. By January 2020, her YouTube channel had accrued more than 39 million subscribers and her music videos had been viewed a total of more than fourteen billion times, her Instagram account had accumulated more than 190 million followers, ranking her as the most followed person on Instagram, her Twitter account had more than 108 million followers, making it the 3rd most followed Twitter account, and her Facebook page had more than 30 million likes. Other ventures Fashion lines Kayla Parker opened a clothing boutiques called K.P. which the stores are all over the country across the United States and Canada. The collection features clothes for active males and females such as jeans, shirts, sweaters, socks, hoodies, cardis, dresses, skirts, legwarmers, shorts, jackets, headbands and athletic apparel and accessories. The most popular clothes that sell are the jean jackets, black leather jacket, and dresses. She started gaining recognition in the pageant world when various Miss America, Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants won in the dresses she had designed. Along with designing jackets, Parker worked for 12 years as designer for Jovani Fashions, helping launch the brand and she promotes Neutrogena. Philanthropy Parker was involved in the UR Votes Count campaign which encouraged teenagers to learn more about 2008 presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. In October 2008, Parker participated in St. Jude's Children's Hospital "Runway For Life" benefit. That same month, Parker was named UNICEF's spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, which encouraged children to raise money on Halloween to help children around the world. She said that she was "extremely excited" to "encourage other kids to make a difference in the world." In August 2009, a 17-year-old Parker became the youngest UNICEF ambassador ever, passing fellow songstress Hayley Westenra, who was 18 when she was chosen. In her first official field mission, Parker traveled to Ghana on September 4, 2009 for a week to witness first-hand the stark conditions of vulnerable children that lack vital necessities including clean water, nourishment, education and healthcare. Parker explained, during an interview with Associated Press correspondents, that she wanted to use her star power to bring awareness to Ghana: "That's why I feel very honored to have a voice that kids listen to and take into consideration ... I had people on my tour asking me where IS Ghana, and they Googled it ... and because I went there, they now know where Ghana is. So it's pretty incredible." Parker said, of her role as ambassador, that "Every day 25,000 children die from preventable causes. I stand with UNICEF in the belief that we can change that number from 25,000 to zero. I know we can achieve this because every moment, UNICEF is on the ground providing children with the lifesaving assistance needed to ensure zero becomes a reality." Parker publicly condemned police brutality against black Americans. Parker and her siblings attended a rally in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The film for her sixth album Dangerous Woman included the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding pictures of their sons in the video for "Hollow". In a 2016 interview with Elle, Parker responded to the controversy surrounding her concert "Black Lives Matter" which was perceived to be critical of the police. She clarified, "I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me". Activism In 2013, Parker stated in an interview with Vogue that she considered herself to be "a modern-day feminist". She would later align herself more publicly with the movement, sampling "We should all be feminists", a speech delivered by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a TEDx talk in April 2013. Parker says to understand what being a feminist is, "…it's very simple. It's someone who believes in equal rights for men and women. She advocated to provide equal opportunities for young boys and girls, men and women must begin to understand the double standards that remain persistent in our society and the issue must be illuminated in effort to start making changes. Parker has also contributed to the Ban Bossy campaign, which uses television and social media to encourage leadership in girls In November 2017, Parker presented Colin Kaepernick with the 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, stating, "Thank you for your selfless heart and your conviction, thank you for your personal sacrifice," and that "Colin took action with no fear of consequence ... To change perception, to change the way we treat each other, especially people of color. We're still waiting for the world to catch up." Muhammad Ali was heavily penalized in his career for protesting the status quo of US civil rights through opposition to the Vietnam War, by refusing to serve in the military. 40 years later, Kaepernick had already lost one professional year due to taking a much quieter and legal stand "for people that are oppressed." Personal life Parker dated rapper Diggy Simmons from February 2013 to December 2015, claiming they were "in love" after they first met, but they prioritized their friendship. Her older cousin is Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Parker was raised as a Christian and identified herself as such during her childhood and early adult life. She has posted Bible verses, such as Genesis 12:2, on her Instagram, after seeing it quoted in the book How to Maximise Your Life by Brian Houston. Parker has spoken about her faith saying, "I believe in God. He is the secret of my success. He gives people talent” and "... I love sharing about my faith. God has given me this amazing God-given talent, so I'm going to go out and glorify His name." In addition, on Easter, she posted the Paschal greeting "He is risen" the same social media network. She regularly attended church and Bible study with her family. Discography Main articles: Kayla Parker discography and songs See also: School Gyrls Discography ; Studio Albums * Baby K (2003) * Voice of VP (2006) * I'm Back (2012) * Me, You, and Music (2013) * Kayla Parker (2014) * Dangerous Woman (2016) * Bad Decisions (2018) Filmography Main article: Kayla Parker videography Tours and residencies Main article: List of Kayla Parker live performances Headlining tours * Butterfly World Tour (2004) * Rainbow World Tour (2007) * The Honeymoon Tour (2015) * Dangerous Woman Tour (2017) * The BD World Tour (2019) Co-headlining tours * Verizon Ladies First Tour (with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott) (2004) Concert residencies * I Am... Yours (2009) * 4 Intimate Nights with Kayla (2013) * Revel Presents: Kayla Live (2014) See also * Honorific nicknames in popular music * List of Academy Award records * List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees * List of artists who reached number one in the United States * List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists * List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees * List of artists with the most number ones on the U.S. dance chart * List of highest-grossing concert tours References External links P